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THE DOGON INITIATIVE (The Deniables, Book 1) currently has a 4.8 star rating (out of 5 stars) on Amazon and a 4.6 star rating on Goodreads, showing that reviewers are resonating with this new release novel by New Zealand father-and-son writing team Lance and James Morcan.

Co-authors of the bestselling historical adventures WHITE SPIRIT and INTO THE AMERICAS, and the thrillers SILENT FEAR and THE ORPHAN TRILOGY, the Morcans say their latest novel and the series it has spawned, or is about to spawn, were inspired by the belief American intelligence contracts foreign mercenaries to undertake clandestine missions abroad.

“They’re known as deniable assets,” Lance explains. “Deniable because, if a mission goes belly up, the agency will deny any knowledge of their existence and no-one’s to their assistance. For obvious reasons, we refer to the assets as the Deniables.”

James say book one in the series shows how the CIA’s New Paradigms Team, a newly-formed humanitarian division of the agency, is tasked with saving Mali’s persecuted Dogon people from genocide.

He continues, “Although fictional, we consider it’s not too unlikely the CIA is pursuing humanitarian goals, and, with that in mind, that’s the basis of the entire series. Each book will focus on the Deniables’ latest mission.”

In our new action-adventure THE DOGON INITIATIVE (The Deniables, Book 1), the CIA is intent on obtaining proof that the Dogon of West Africa possess ancient knowledge – knowledge that predates modern astronomy.

Early in the novel, two key members of the agency’s New Paradigms Team lobby their superior to order the Deniables taskforce to photograph cave paintings of the Sirius star system in the Dogon’s homeland in Mali.

Excerpt follows:

Catrell placed a tablet she was holding on the desktop in front of the senior agent. On its screen was a photo of a cave painting.

“This is a painting that accurately depicts the Sirius star system… One of many such paintings to be found in the caves along the Bandiagara Escarpment, in the Dogon homeland. Pointing at a smaller star on the system’s periphery, she added, “And this Sirius B, the white dwarf companion star of Sirius A and the star said to be invisible to the human eye.”

“Said to be?” Daley asked.

“Modern day astronomers assure us that is the case,” said Catrell, “but the Dogon believe their forefathers have known of its existence for centuries. They insist that Moussa’s ancient forefather, the original Moussa Diarra, first discovered it… Long before the invention of telescopes.”

“So this so-called invisible white dwarf star can be seen in the cave paintings,” Daley said to himself. “I assume they’ve been carbon-dated?”

“They have,” said Catrell, “but carbon dating of cave paintings can be an inexact science.”

“Which is why sourcing and authenticating a painting that features ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics would seal the deal as far as present-day academics are concerned,” said Einhorn re-joining the discussion. “It would prove beyond doubt that, one, the painting is truly ancient, and, two, the Dogon have knowledge that predates modern astronomy.”

Daley formed a steeple with his fingers to rest his chin upon as he surveyed the two agents and considered their pitch.

At length he said, “Remind me why this is so important.”

“Because it would support the theory that the Dogon have unexplained knowledge,” said Einhorn. “Such a revelation would reflect well on a people considered by the ill-informed to be little more than ignorant desert nomads and cave-dwellers.”

“And the unearthing of such knowledge could well have benefits for all Mankind,” Catrell quickly added.

“And you want me to order our taskforce in Mali to locate the mystery cave in question and photograph or film the mystery painting after they reach Tireli?” Daley said.

The two agents nodded.

“Why wait until now to drop this on me?” the senior agent asked.

“We’ve been primarily focused on the logistics of the Dogon Initiative up to this point,” Catrell explained. “Only now are we able to focus on the humanitarian issues.”

Daley accepted that explanation.

The women waited in silence while their superior considered what they were asking of him. They had nothing more to say. They’d delivered their best pitch. Now it was up to Daley.

Finally, the senior agent nodded.

“Very well,” he said, “you’ve convinced me.” He indicated the meeting was over and motioned to his subordinates to leave. Before they reached the door, he mumbled, “Oh… good pitch by the way.”

“A novel of epic length, THE DOGON INITIATIVE proves once again that the Morcans are a very fine writing team. This is a tale that pleads to be a film…Highly recommended.” – That’s Amazon Hall of Fame Top 50 reviewer Grady Harp’s take on the new release action-thriller by Lance & James Morcan, the authors of nine published novels.

Excerpts from Grady’s Amazon review follow:

The Morcans know how to deliver intrigue, both on scientific subjects and most assuredly on suspense thrillers. They invite us in with their moody Prologue which in addition to giving us insight in the tale to follow allows us to appreciate some fine African ‘history’. ‘The first full moon of the rainy season was a momentous occasion for the Dogon people of Mali. It marked the day, many countless moons ago when, according to legend at least, Moussa Diarra, one of their ancient forefathers, discovered Sirius B, the second star in the Sirius solar system and one that wouldn’t be rediscovered by astronomers until hundreds of years later. And then only with the aid of telescopes. Every year, Dogon used the occasion to celebrate Moussa’s discovery and to pay homage to the greatest of all their spiritual leaders. Moussa had ruled over Dogon when the Mali Empire was the largest in West Africa. Its western border stretched all the way to the Atlantic Ocean and it was a center of culture, language, education, mathematics, science, law, trade, and great wealth. It was a time when Dogon had considerable more influence. In the present day they are a persecuted minority facing cultural extinction as they’re continually attacked by larger ethnic and religious fundamentalist groups whose number include disenchanted Muslims.’

With that flavor of credible authenticity the story proceeds – mood set, characters arise. Apropos of the authors the lead character is Australian – security consultant Dean Hawkins. Or as the summary of the plot states, ‘A group of foreign mercenaries hired as deniable assets by a newly-formed humanitarian division of the CIA is tasked with saving Mali’s persecuted Dogon people from genocide. The operation must be carried out in stealth while journeying across some of West Africa’s most hostile terrain. They are also instructed to help solve an ancient astronomical mystery linked to the pyramids of Egypt. Nicknamed the Deniables because their existence isn’t officially acknowledged by the CIA, the mercenaries are crazy enough to accept the mission anyway. However, they soon find themselves fighting for their lives when they get caught in the middle of warring ethnic factions in Mali. Their only way to survive is to join with the Dogon in a race against the clock. The stakes are so high that not only could an entire indigenous group be wiped off the face of the Earth, but all evidence that supports advanced ancient technology theories surrounding the Dogon and a lost civilization thesis may be destroyed in the process. Inspired by a true-life mystery of astronomy.’

The first full moon of the rainy season was a momentous occasion for the Dogon people of Mali. It marked the day, many countless moons ago when, according to legend at least, Moussa Diarra, one of their ancient forefathers, discovered Sirius B, the second star in the Sirius star system and one that wouldn’t be rediscovered by astronomers until hundreds of years later. And then only with the aid of telescopes. Every year, the Dogon used the occasion to celebrate Moussa’s discovery and to pay homage to the greatest of all their spiritual leaders.

So begins the prologue in our new release action-thriller THE DOGON INITIATIVE (The Deniables, Book 1).

The prologue continues:

Moussa had ruled over the Dogon when the Mali Empire was the largest in West Africa. Its western border stretched all the way to the Atlantic Ocean and it was a center of culture, language, education, mathematics, science, law, trade and great wealth. It was a time when the Dogon had considerably more influence. In the present day they are a persecuted minority facing cultural extinction as they’re continually attacked by larger ethnic and religious fundamentalist groups whose number include disenchanted Muslims.

The first full moon was a significant occasion for one of the great Moussa Diarra’s youngest descendants also for it marked the day of his birth, and that was another good reason for the Dogon of the tiny village of Tireli to celebrate.

Moussa’s namesake, ten-year-old Moussa Diarra, was too young to fully appreciate the significance of the occasion. Even so, he wore his legendary ancestor’s name with pride, and he basked in the adulation the villagers bestowed upon him. They believed him to be a Nommo, an ancestral spirit returned from the dead, and they dreamed that he would help them tap into their reservoir of knowledge dating back to ancient times and lead them back to their former greatness.

Physically, young Moussa was an unremarkable specimen, different to the other boys. Skinny and a little shorter than average, he did, however, have one remarkable feature: one eye (his right eye) was blue and the other brown. It was a trait he’d inherited from his father and from his father’s father going all the way back, as legend would have it, to the original Moussa Diarra.

For the Dogon, this was absolute and final confirmation that young Moussa was their future leader. A reincarnation, many claimed, of his revered ancestor. Some even insisted he had inherited all his ancestor’s genes…

Later in the prologue, Moussa’s bodyguard and mentor Ibrahim takes the boy to a secret cave high in the cliffs behind Tireli. We take up the story where the pair enter the cave.

Moussa followed the muscular Ibrahim through the entrance and discovered it opened up into a cavern almost as big as his father’s lodge. The front of the cave was dappled in sunlight; the rest of it faded to blackness.

“Where are we?” he asked. His voice echoed in the cave’s rocky confines.

“We are in a special place,” Ibrahim said, nodding to the near wall. “A sacred place.”

Moussa saw a shaft of sunlight had illuminated a map of the heavens on the wall.

“It was painted by Dogon artisans many centuries ago,” Ibrahim said. He knew that to be a fact because modern-day scientists and astronomers had researched similar paintings in other caves along the escarpment and had decreed the paintings around Tireli at least were between three-hundred-and-fifty and four hundred years old.

This particular map, one of many such ancient maps to be found in these caves, was adorned by strange symbols, which Moussa had never seen the likes of before.

Observing Moussa’s fascination with the ancient painting, Ibrahim knew he’d been right to suggest to the boy’s father that he bring him to this hallowed place on this special day…

A group of foreign mercenaries hired as deniable assets by a newly-formed humanitarian division of the CIA is tasked with saving Mali’s persecuted Dogon people from genocide. The operation must be carried out in stealth while journeying across some of West Africa’s most hostile terrain. As if all that’s not enough, they are also instructed to help solve an ancient astronomical mystery linked to the pyramids of Egypt.

Early in our new release action-thriller THE DOGON INITIATIVE (The Deniables, Book 1) the CIA recruits an eight-strong taskforce of foreign mercenaries. They are deniable assets. Hence their collective moniker, The Deniables. Which means, if a mission goes belly up, no-one acknowledges their existence… and no-one’s coming to their rescue!

Meet The Deniables:

Aussie Dean Hawkins (40) provides security consultancy services to corporations and governments in Africa and Middle East when he’s recruited to head the CIA’s new taskforce. Ex-Australian Army special forces and an unarmed combat expert, Hawkins specialized in long-range combat reconnaissance and airborne operations, serving primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan. He resigned the army abruptly for reasons never divulged. Intelligent and fluent in Arabic, he’s a natural leader.

Scot Iain Fraser (37) is Hawkins’ 2IC. An ex-SAS (British Army) and a ‘dems’ or demolitions expert, he was court-martialed after being caught twice for screwing officers’ wives whilst the hubbies were away on active duty. Fraser has since been working as a mercenary in many of the world’s hot spots. Big, bearded and tough, he’s a sergeant major type who is also a leader of men. He’s on probation because of his court martial.

Englishwoman Sandra Bishop (26) is the team’s signaler. She’s an ex-British Army-trained signaler, handling secure communications in the field – her specialties being HF radio and SATCOM (satellite communications). Bishop has served in various Middle East hot spots. Fluent in Morse Code and an IT guru and Internet hacker, she’s a tomboy type, quick to react to perceived insults and not slow to put the menfolk in their place.

Indian Harita Kumar (28) is a specialist sniper. Ex-Indian Army, she’s one of only two females to graduate as a sniper in the Indian Armed Forces, and the only female sniper to be accepted into the Indian Special Forces. Kumar saw recent action (2017/18) in the Kashmir conflict (counter-terrorist activities against Paki troops and Paki-sponsored terrorists). Cool under pressure and multi-lingual, she has many opportunities to prove her marksmanship.

Belgian Philippe Merckx (39) is a weapons expert. A former member of the French Foreign Legion, Merckx served with them in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan up to 2014 and in Rwanda and Chad prior to that. More recently has been a mercenary in the world’s hot spots. Huge of stature and immensely strong, he’s deceptively intelligent and multi-lingual, speaking five European languages. He’s also the only married member of the taskforce.

German Dirk Becker (29) is a demolitions/explosives expert who formerly served in the German Army. He left to serve as a mercenary, protecting oil interests in Iraq. Multi-lingual, Becker is fluent in four European languages. He’s also very ambitious and hyper-critical with a psychotic personality and no moral compass. He is on the taskforce against Hawkins’ wishes on the insistence of his employer who claims Becker’s the best at what he does.

Brazilian Rubens Senna (25) serves as the team medic. A Brazilian Army-trained medic, he was decommissioned because he helped himself to drugs he had access to. After kicking the drug habit, Senna reinvented himself as a mercenary and served in various trouble spots around the globe. A skinny, long-haired, unshaven character, he’s former Brazilian mixed martial arts welterweight champion who is also pretty handy with a knife.

Frenchwoman Marie Akinwande (29) is a former French Army-trained FAC (Forward Air Control) specialist who is back-up for signaler Bishop and spotter for sniper Harita. Born and raised in France, she’s the mixed race African-French daughter of immigrants. Before joining army, Akinwande was youngest-ever air traffic controller to serve at Charles de Gaulle Airport. She’s also multi-lingual French, English and the Yoruba dialect of her Nigerian father.

Collectively, they’re a disparate lot, which doesn’t augur well for their first mission – to repatriate a high profile Dogon exile to his Mali homeland and to save the persecuted Dogon people from genocide.

Our new release action-thriller novel THE DOGON INITIATIVE, book one in The Deniables Series, was released this week on Amazon.

A group of foreign mercenaries hired as deniable assets by a newly-formed humanitarian division of the CIA is tasked with saving Mali’s persecuted Dogon people from genocide. The operation must be carried out in stealth while journeying across some of West Africa’s most hostile terrain. As if all that’s not enough, they are also ordered to help solve an ancient astronomical mystery linked to the pyramids of Egypt.

Mission impossible? Duh!

Nicknamed the Deniables because their existence isn’t officially acknowledged by the CIA, the mercenaries are crazy enough to accept the mission anyway. However, they soon find themselves fighting for their lives when they get caught in the middle of warring ethnic factions in Mali. Their only way to survive is to join with the Dogon in a race against the clock. The stakes are so high that not only could an entire indigenous group be wiped off the face of the Earth, but all evidence that supports advanced ancient technology theories surrounding the Dogon and a lost civilization thesis may be destroyed in the process.

Inspired by a true-life mystery of astronomy, The Dogon Initiative highlights some of the many myths and theories surrounding the fascinating Dogon people of Mali. In particular, their unexplained knowledge of the invisible-to-the-eye Sirius B white dwarf star, the rings of Saturn and other heavenly bodies, and their rumored ancestral relationship to ancient Egyptians.

*

The Dogon Initiative is the ninth novel by father-and-son writing team Lance and James Morcan. Their previous works of fiction include the bestselling historical epics White Spirit and Into the Americas, as well as their modern thrillers Silent Fear and The Orphan Trilogy.

The CIA recruits a team of foreign mercenaries. They are considered ‘deniable assets’ and go by the unlikely but somewhat prophetic name the Deniables. Their first mission is to repatriate one Moussa Diarra, an African exile, from New York back to his Dogon homeland in Mali, West Africa. Unfortunately, there are militant ethnic factions in Mali intent on preventing Moussa’s return and exterminating his people. His fate is in the hands of the Deniables.

That’s the premise of our new release action-thriller The Dogon Initiative (The Deniables, #1).

New action thriller available on Amazon.

For fans of the action-thriller genre, here’s two early chapters from this novel. In them, a newly formed team of young CIA hotshots plan a new initiative only a very select few at the agency even know about.

CHAPTER 3

Next morning, eight thousand miles away at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, USA, a small, select, think tank group of agency personnel brainstormed a new venture.

The four women and three men present were of various ethnicities and came from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Ranging in age from twenty-one to thirty-seven, they were surprisingly young considering the responsibilities and magnitude of the task entrusted to them. All seven dressed casually, looking more like university students than intelligence agents in their dress jeans and casual shirts or T-shirts (and their baseball caps in the case of the two youngest men) and they reclined on beanbags rather than conventional office chairs.

Four of them drank Fair Trade-certified coffee from recycled, environmentally-friendly, reusable, takeaway cups while one of the baseball caps absentmindedly demonstrated his expertise with a yo-yo and the youngest female chewed gum as they bounced ideas off each other.

The vigorous discussion was punctuated with banter, and interjections were frequent. Participants casually referred to the project they were brainstorming as the Dogon Initiative, or, sometimes more colloquially as the Dogon Job; the gum-chewer simply referred to it as the Dog Job, and that vulgarism was starting to catch on amongst her colleagues. Their use of everyday slang and obvious preference for casual dress seemed apt given there was nothing remotely formal or regular about this group of agents.

An outsider looking in might consider they were ad agency workers or software nerds perhaps, but first impressions can be deceiving. They were the CIA’s hotshots, recognized by management as seven of the agency’s most intelligent and unique thinkers. And despite appearances and despite their relative youthfulness, all but the three youngest had operational experience in the field.

Collectively, they made up the total staff of the grandiose-sounding but suitably vague The New Paradigms Team, which officially came under the umbrella of the agency’s Directorate of Science and Technology, but in reality was its own directorate.

It was no coincidence their roomy, well appointed, basement office was off limits to all but a few senior officials whose number included the agency’s director and deputy director. The hotshots were at the cutting edge of something only a handful of others at Langley even knew about it. Something that represented a daring departure from tradition.

The beanbags the think tank members occupied were roughly aligned in a circle on the plush, carpeted floor. In the middle of the circle was a three-foot tall replica of Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza, and it was that which currently commanded the attention of all.

On loan from one of the Smithsonian Museums in Washington, DC, the realistic, scale model was a spectacular reminder of how magnificent the original pyramid must have looked many thousands of years earlier. Sunlight streaming through ground floor-level windows strategically located just below ceiling level along the full length of one wall reflected off the replica’s gleaming, limestone-colored exterior and off the golden capstone at its very top, making it sparkle. The dazzling effect was such the replica might have been constructed of gold, silver, diamonds and other precious stones.

The model pyramid had special significance for the seven agents seated around it. They’d been tasked with masterminding a bold, new, long-term program within the agency. A program that the Dogon Initiative would be but one part of – albeit an important part.

The so-called Dog Job would herald the commencement of the new approach by American intelligence that the agency’s Cape Town asset, Lotte, had alluded to when pitching to Dean Hawkins in Nigeria the previous day. A more ethical approach that wouldn’t result in the usual blowback the CIA infamously attracted from its enemies around the world and from media watchdogs at home and abroad.

The office door opened and in walked Senior Agent Fred Daley. The suave, fifty-five-year-old closed both eyes as he was momentarily blinded by the brilliant sunlight reflecting off the replica pyramid’s golden capstone.

“For Christ’s sake, kids!” he grumbled, squinting at the assembled through one half-open eye.

One or two of Daley’s junior colleagues had trouble suppressing a smile as the twenty-seven-year agency veteran bypassed the last remaining vacant beanbag to plonk his tall, lanky frame down on the room’s only conventional office chair. It was an innocent action that somehow symbolized the differences between him and them.

The differences didn’t bother the others, and if they irked him he never let on.

Eying the young hotshots, Daley said, “Okay, I’ve heard back from the Budget Office’s Deputy Director. She insists she needs more details, hard details, if she’s to consider the twenty-five percent budget increase you want for this Mali mission.”

The hotshots collectively groaned.

“Goddamn it,” one of the baseball caps muttered.

“C’mon now,” Daley said as he looked around at the disappointed faces. “You gotta admit this is a speculative project you’ve chosen for a first-up assignment. There’s major risks involved using assets. Especially foreign assets –”

“Deniable assets,” one of the female agents reminded him.

The senior agent waved a dismissive hand. “Whatever… A speculative project using deniable assets who’ve never been contracted by the agency before… And on top of that, there’s a risk the ancient technology or whatever it is you’re hoping the Dogon have retained from the Earth’s ancient past may be nothing but Alex Jones-style conspiracy nonsense.”

Daley paused as if to invite objections. When there were none, he pulled out his smartphone, switched on its Video Recording mode and checked the screen to ensure all seven hotshots were in the camera’s frame.

“So sell it to me one more time,” he said as he began filming. “Convince me how the Dogon and their ancient history or technology can help America and I’ll try to get you the extra twenty-five percent.”

CHAPTER 4

Twenty-three year old Asian-American Tom Cheung, one of the baseball caps, and, at five foot four, the shortest by a country mile of all the assembled, leaned forward on his beanbag and stared directly at Daley over the top of the replica pyramid.

“Classified files both within the agency and other US and foreign intel agencies reveal a great deal of evidence,” Cheung said. “Not proof admittedly, but strong evidence that the Dogon’s advanced astronomical knowledge is very ancient and so predates the French astronomers who first visited them in Mali in 1893.” Cheung paused as he noisily adjusted his position on the beanbag. “This essentially debunks the popular myth that the Dogon people had no astronomical knowledge to speak of before then… before 1893… and were simply regurgitating the French –”

“Well let’s focus on the lack of proof then,” Daley interrupted. “Why hold faith in Dogon science if we don’t have absolute proof?”

“Because their culture is worth saving regardless!” twenty-eight-year-old Kathy Einhorn, a Jewish woman, said passionately. The six-foot tall Yale graduate added, “Remember, the Dogon are facing the likelihood of cultural extinction in the near future.” She retrieved her smartphone from the pocket of the denim jacket she wore and accessed a specific app.

A large, colourful hologram suddenly appeared, like magic, in the air just above the pyramid.

No-one was surprised. American intelligence had been using holographic technology for decades now – almost as long as the US Military had.

Einhorn’s hologram depicted a map of Mali. She pressed digital icons on her phone’s screen to zoom in so that the holographic map focused on Mali’s central plateau region where the Dogon reside. The map seemed to shimmer in the sunlight.

Cheung closed the blinds and the hologram was immediately enhanced.

“As we speak, the Dogon are being attacked by militant Muslims and other religious groups… right… there,” Einhorn said as red holographic arrows appeared above half a dozen villages highlighted on the map. “Our sources confirm some factions within the current Mali Government want the Dogon eradicated, too. These poor people are getting slammed from all sides for the very reasons we want to protect them… They hold ancient knowledge.” She looked directly at Daley. “Paradoxically, just as that knowledge is a threat to organized religions and established beliefs, it also could also be crucial to America’s future… and the world’s future, too.”

Still not convinced, Daley remained expressionless as he continued to video proceedings.

“You expect me to believe that any knowledge or wisdom to be found inside the heads of African desert nomads could somehow be crucial to our future?” he asked.

“Hell, yeah!” thirty-year-old transgendered (female to male) think tank member Bryce McNickle said, incensed. Pushing himself to his feet, he said, “We’re talkin’ free energy methodologies, interstellar engineering designs… Possibly even recovered ancient alien technologies” – the handsome transgender gestured to the replica pyramid before them – “not to mention how the pyramids were constructed… And our best scientists working on classified research projects claim all of those theories are quite possible. Thus the secrets the Dogon hold may help us in innumerable ways.”

“Well,” Daley responded, “what evidence do we have that they were aware of the Sirius thing before the French astronomers visited them?” He referred to a mystery that had long puzzled modern-day astronomers.

“A lot, actually,” Cheung said, reinserting himself into the discussion. “For example, many researchers believe the Dogon have work tools and implements whose shape is identical to Canis Major, or the Sirius Constellation. That includes Sirius B, the white dwarf star invisible to the naked eye.”

As Cheung spoke, Einhorn played with her smartphone. Above the replica pyramid in their midst, a new holographic image of a ceremonial Dogon hunting tool appeared with a map of the heavens superimposed behind it. Various points on the hunting tool aligned perfectly with the Sirius Constellation and even appeared to align with the white dwarf star Sirius B her colleague referred to.

Cheung continued, “Sirius B wasn’t discovered by our civilization’s astronomers until 1862, yet this ceremonial Dogon tool depicting that very dwarf star and its orbit around Sirius A is estimated to have been crafted many hundreds of years before the Nineteenth Century. Furthermore, the Dogon have an ancient ceremony called Sigui that directly mirrors the orbit of Sirius B around Sirius A… and, get this, there are four hundred-year-old Dogon masks still being used in Sigui ceremonial rites. This means the Dogon were at least centuries ahead of Nineteenth Century astronomers.”

“Well, have we or any of our associates reached out to the Dogon themselves to get their opinions on all these mysteries?” Daley asked.

“Yep,” Cheung said. “The Dogon say their astronomical knowledge was passed down in oral tradition and goes back thousands of years.” Before his boss could interject, the young agent quickly added, “I know that doesn’t equate to proof the Dogon knew about a star that’s invisible to the naked eye, but their response to criticisms from academia complicates things as 1893 isn’t that long ago. For example…” He nodded to Einhorn who promptly tapped the screen of her smart phone.

A holographic video of an eldery Dogon man appeared above the pyramid.

Cheung continued, “Here’s a video of a Dogon elder over a hundred years old. One hundred and sixteen I believe he was when this video was filmed last year. Still alive last we heard, which makes him one of the oldest in Africa.” He glanced at his companions and several nodded, confirming the elder was still alive. “And so if you do the math, this man’s parents were born long before 1893. Yet he swears both his parents learnt the stories of Sirius B from their parents… Another piece of crucial evidence that predates the French astronomers’ arrival in Mali by many decades at least.”

Cheung waited for one of his colleagues to answer. When none did, he said, “Well, as Bryce alluded” – he nodded to McNickle – “some would have it the Dogon received knowledge from visitors… Extraterrestrial visitors.”

Daley continued to play Devil’s Advocate.

“So you’re asking me to tell my superiors that ETs came from some distant galaxy, and the only people they decided to visit were a bunch of cliff-dwelling Africans in the middle of nowhere?”

“The Dogon are some of the oldest people around,” Latin American Ricky Santos said, entering the discussion. The thirty-three-year-old Stanford University law graduate continued, “So if the Ancient Aliens Theory is legit… and by the way I’m not necessarily saying any of us believe that ET hypothesis… Then potentially the Dogon might be one of the few peoples left on Earth who can remember the visitations… and recite it via their extensive oral tradition. But others around the planet allude to something very similar.” Santos looked at Daley who was still filming. “Shall I go on?”

The senior agent nodded.

Santos continued, “A good example of what I’m talking about is the Nazca Lines in Peru… They seem to be an attempt to communicate with sky gods. Likewise, Australia’s Aborigines have various sky beings in their oral traditions… So I think asking ‘Why only these people and nobody else?’ isn’t really relevant, especially concerning very ancient peoples like the Dogon. That’s just a hackneyed line mainstreamers use to try to debunk the possibility of such visitations.”

Daley was about to reply, when the youngest of the hotshots, twenty-one-year-old redhead Rachel Nider, the gum-chewer, and, as it happened, the owner of the highest IQ in the building, spoke up. “Many researchers also assume that detailed astronomical knowledge of distant stars invisible to the naked eye would necessitate ETs coming to our planet… Which is kinda a modern perspective and perhaps a by-product of a Hollywood-influenced culture… Like, who’s to say those who built the pyramids and performed other incredible feats of engineering weren’t capable of traveling to Sirius with advanced ancient physical technology created by humans on Earth? Or else something more obscure like exploring the universe using mental techniques… like remote viewing?”

Daley shook his head in frustration. “Can somebody just summarize this for me in a nutshell… and in English, please?”

All eyes turn to anthropologist Mary Catrell, who, at thirty-seven, was the oldest of the think tank members. Headhunted by the CIA only a year earlier, she’d already successfully completed two overseas field assignments, having been fast-tracked into active service by case managers who had quickly identified her unique abilities.

“There are undeniable connections between scientific and cosmological knowledge encoded in the myths of many cultures,” Catrell said. “These cosmo myths spread from Gobekli Tepe to pre-dynastic Egypt and the Shakti cult of India, and then from India into Egypt again in dynastic times and eventually around the world. The Dogon are preserving a lot of myths from Egypt as well as from other sources such as early Buddhism.”

Einhorn interjected, saying, “A good example being the Maori of New Zealand who have the same myths and use much of the same terminology.”

“Exactly,” Catrell agreed. “The Dogon myths and traditions have some authenticity because of parallels in Egypt that involve the same words for the same concepts. We can see this for ourselves in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics painted on the walls of caves in the Dogon’s homeland. As for their ancient knowledge of Sirius B, I agree with Rachel and don’t necessarily think beings came to Earth from there… or from any other planet. After all, the Dogon’s astronomical knowledge is part of a treasure trove of scientific knowledge encoded in myths.”

“A treasure trove of scientific knowledge encoded in myths?” Daley responded, and not without a trace of sarcasm.

Several think tank members shared knowing looks. Their superior liked to pretend he was a hard-ass, but they knew he was a bit of a softy beneath his gruff exterior. Except when he needed to be a hard-ass.

Undeterred, Catrell continued, “The more I look into it, the more convinced I am there was a human civilization that was advanced in engineering and science, but was largely wiped out by the onset of the near-glacial period we call the Younger Dryas, and nearly finished off by the end of that post-Ice Age period about eleven thousand five hundred years ago. Scientists believe a large solar outburst was responsible for the end of the Younger Dryas, remember. Such an event would devastate any advanced technological civilization, be it ancient or modern.”

“Mary’s right,” the other baseball cap said. Twenty-seven-year-old African-American Milton Rucker, who, to the amusement of the others wore his cap back to front, added, “After all, even a smaller climatic event on that scale would probably wipe out our civilization.”

The diminutive Cheung, who sat next to the six foot six inch tall Rucker, leaned over to his taller, older colleague and murmured, “We were wondering when you were gonna wake up.”